Many motor vehicles, particularly sport utility vehicles and minivans, are equipped with rear seats that can be moved from a seating configuration, in which passengers can sit in the seat, to a so-called “load floor” configuration where the back support of the seat is folded downwardly to assume a horizontal orientation and thereby facilitate cargo stowage. Typically, locking mechanisms are provided for holding the seat in the seating configuration, and the locking mechanisms can be released to permit moving the seat to the load floor configuration.
It has also been proposed to provide a seat that stows in a vertical position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,389 shows a stowable seat having a cantilevered seatbase with a range of motion extending from a horizontally deployed position to a vertically stowed position.